How significant was the Spanish Conquest of Mexico Speech Essay

The Spanish conquest of Mexico started in February 14th in 1519 when Cortes arrived at Tenochtitlan in Mexico. The battle was between the Aztecs and Spanish. It started when Cortés and Montezuma were on the causeway giving gifts to each other. And because Montezuma was a naive leader, Cortes bribed him. Later the Spanish conquistadors and allies attacked every other Aztec city by a siege. Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors wanted to gain Montezuma’s trust so that they could get the land, power, wealth, spread the religion/beliefs and the language. They also wanted a hierarchy. The Spanish conquest of Mexico was very significant. Our reason for thinking this because when the Spanish took over Mexico, a lot had changed such as the language, religion and the way the Aztecs lived, and also the hierarchy and weaponry. The language they had to speak was Spanish from Nahuatl (original language).

The Aztecs had to start speaking Spanish to communicate with the Spanish who are their leaders since they are slaves. They also had to convert to from idol worship (polytheists) to Christianity which is monotheists. Once they had converted they had to stop all their rituals (human sacrifices) which the Spanish thought was barbaric. Also all the Aztec temples were destroyed so that the Aztecs had no chance of worshiping. The Aztecs also had to change their life style, they all became slaves and worked for the Spanish. They became poor with little food. They also lost all their land and all their wealth to the Spanish. Another thing that changed was that the Aztecs wouldn’t have progressed and developed their weaponry and war methods, for example spears to swords and cavalry and better war methods. Something else that changed was the population, because of small pox, Mexico’s population decreased by 10%. Which led to the Spanish and having less slaves, so Spanish took some slaves from other countries like Africa. This was beneficial for them because they had people to work for them, and a hierarchy. The Spanish of conquest of Mexico was not very significant. Our reason for thinking this because was some things in Mexico stayed the same after the Spanish came for example houses, clothing and the food that the Aztecs ate. The houses stayed the same because the Aztecs were poor and could not afford any better.

The Aztecs had the same food to eat whereas the Spaniards had exotic fruits such as avocado, and they also had cocoa and spices. The clothes stayed the same because they were poor and could not afford any better and they were slaves. The Spanish were able to defeat the Aztecs because the Spanish had more developed weaponry such as swords, cavalry and strong armour. They also won because of Cortes’s cunning plans and good techniques for example he demoralized Moctezuma and his people. And because Moctezuma was a naive leader, Cortes was able to bribe/manipulate Moctezuma. The Spanish were also prepared where as the Aztecs were taken by shock. And Cortes gained many allies and they held a siege at Tenochtitlan. And therefore there was a massacre. There were many things that the Spanish gained and the Aztecs lost for example wealth, land, hierarchy and power. The Spanish gained wealth because they took all of the gold, silver and precious stones like Jade the Aztecs had. This made a real impact on the Aztecs because they are now poor. The Aztecs also had jaguar skins, humming bird feathers and shells which the Spanish gained and could make money with. Also the Spanish gained a lot of leather, and exotic fruits like avocado and they also gained spices and cocoa. The Spanish gained a lot of the land which the Aztecs owned. And the Aztecs living there became slaves to these landowners. The Spanish was now at the top of the hierarchy and were ranked more higher that the Aztecs.

The Spanish gained power over a lot of Aztec cities and made a colony. The Romans was more significant because the Romans changed a lot of things such as the language to Latin. They bought different spices and a variety of more foods. They also introduced pavements, new laws, buildings and the calendar whereas Cortes didn’t change as much. And Cortes had a battle for his own benefit to gain what he needed however in the roman conquest the Romans gained some benefit and so did Britain. In our opinion the Spanish conquest of Mexico was very significant. Our reason for thinking this is because if it wasn’t for the Spanish the Aztecs civilization wouldn’t have progressed and developed for example the Aztecs war methods and weapons. Also the Spanish conquest of Mexico was very important because it had changed a lot of things like the language the Aztecs had to speak to communicate with the Spanish and fit into society. The religion was changed to Christianity. The Aztecs had less wealth whereas the Spanish gained a lot. Also the Aztecs were at the bottom of the hierarchy. And the population dropped by 10% due to the Spanish bringing disease like small pox, pneumonia and measles. Therefore we think that the Spanish conquest of Mexico was significant but not as much as the Roman conquest.